Phosa admits ANC failure

2008-10-09 22:49

Liezel de Lange

Stellenbosch - When it comes to reconciliation between the various races in South Africa, the ANC has dropped the ball, ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa said on Thursday evening.

Former presidents Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk managed to keep this ball in the air for a while, but he had to admit the party has since dropped it, Phosa said.

In a speech prepared for delivery, he also asked South Africans to reach out to those around them in order to bridge the chasms left by apartheid.

Phosa was addressing more than a hundred Afrikaans role-players, including businessmen, academics, wine farmers, sportspeople and church leaders.

The event formed part of a series of discussions that ANC leaders, among them President Kgalema Motlanthe, have had with Afrikaans-speaking people in Stellenbosch and Somerset West recently.

Vigorous debate

Regarding the strife within the ANC, Phosa said the party welcomed vigorous debate, but members should resign themselves to the outcome of democratic processes.

He said the party had a strong new leadership that was equipped to face the country's challenges.

Phosa wasn't very concerned about threats that opposition parties could erode the ANC's support base in next year's elections.

Turning to matters financial, Phosa said the ANC realised it couldn't kill the goose that lay the golden eggs by limiting the private sector through its economic policy.

The ANC government would manage its economic policy in such a way as to allow the private sector to flourish and pay tax, he said.

This would allow the government to collect the money to finance its service-delivery programmes.

- Beeld